


Welcome Home

by docmint



Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: Blood, Fighting, Gore, Realism, dying, lots of scenery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-31
Updated: 2014-08-31
Packaged: 2018-02-15 12:01:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2228280
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/docmint/pseuds/docmint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harvey Smith, game designer/director of Dishonored, is dragged into his own game, into the Empire of Isles by no other than the Outsider himself. He gives him a rather simple riddle, with an aim to destroy the Abbey of the Everyman while Harvey knows nothing of his new powers, is completely alone and has no knowledge of how to start his new life. What will he do to survive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone!
> 
> This is actually my first fanfiction submitted on the Internet but don't make your critiques soft, I truly want them to be straightforward and honest.
> 
> I'm not entirely sure if anyone ever wrote a fanfiction with Harvey Smith. I thought that making Corvo or Daud as main characters might be a bit overused, so I wanted to make something new and refreshing. Also, regarding updating. Since school will almost start and I'm going on a vacation with my class, updates will be coming very slowly. If at any point I lose inspiration, I'll say so and give this story to someone else.
> 
> Please, point out any grammar mistakes, boring parts, anything that's not good and I'll look after those in the future.
> 
> I'd like to thank my two beta readers who encouraged me and gave me inspiration to continue writing. I love you guys so so much!
> 
> This story will contain blood, gore, major character death, colorful language and I could (and probably will) add some pairings and we-all-know-what-kind-of scenes (wink).
> 
> So without further ado, enjoy!

In a dark, endless void, a creature hollow of benevolence exhaled loud breaths of toxic smoke. It devoured those around it, their screams seemed to evoke strange pleasure in the creature as they gasped for their last breath in agony. This scene kept repeating, shifting into almost identical places in process gathering more and more humans and causing them to wail, howl in pain. It couldn't be escaped, no matter how much they were prepared for it since the prophecy said this would happen.

But it was the same for Him.

No matter how many times he tried to run or hide, the scene would repeat itself and he would have no freedom instead, he would be forced to watch over and over again. Whenever he got close to escaping, whispers would terrorize him before getting him to stop running because there was no point anymore.

He'd just stand there, his cinereous skin with dark amber stains spreading from his back to neck and evaporating light, delicate clouds of ash. His eyes would burn and he'd feel the dreadful smell of burnt meat mixed with the aroma of lavender. While turning around to look back, he scratched his nose, but then the smell got onto his tongue and made him almost  _taste_  the agony and misery of those souls that were fated to die. When he tried to blink tears out of his eyes, caused by the smoke coming from the Creature, his view got even more unclear and all colors he saw turned into different hues of red.

He could feel his skin tighten to those muscles he hadn't used in a long time. They almost weren't even his (or at least, it seemed so.)

After a long time, questions which rushed into his head stopped coming, his emotions completely ignoring that sorrow and pity he long ago felt for all those people. The only question that appeared from time to time was, "Is this a dream?"

But no one answered to him and he could only drown in those agonizing screams.

Usually, when he'd look up, he'd see a dark sky filled with stars. Humans would describe them as dreamy, fantastic, something out of this world. They didn't understand them. Honestly, he never cared about the beauty of nature, which mortals used metaphorically to express their emotions. Books, poems, letters, he read all of them, but still, he couldn't understand the meaning behind those words. He tried, but always failed.

And then, he'd remember. This was not a dream, this was his fate. That creature was nothing but the Void, the creature who gave him a chance to play, a chance to let him use his current strength. The Void was his creator and it showed respect only to him. At the beginning, these facts brought him pride and some kind of joy, but later, it didn't even matter. After all, the Void would get him too, and maybe then, he would finally feel something, some kind of an emotion.

That was his story.

The story of the Outsider.

He saw other people's stories and perhaps, if he had a chance, he would write books about their lives. But that was boring and time consuming, not many people had interesting lives. And now that peace was brought to their world, there was nothing more to look up to. Of course, he had eight of his loyal followers who were gifted with his divine powers, powers to create or destroy, but they all lived peaceful lives with no reason to keep track of them. If he didn't do something, most of them would die doing nothing but sleeping, eating and going on with their tiny, irrelevant,  _pointless_  lives.

And as he thought about it, he felt something.

Something so small that if he didn't pay enough attention, would surely miss. It fluttered, breathed soft words into his mind, almost like it was trying to escape. It was frightened, started panicking, but it couldn't escape, not when  _He_  found it.

The Outsider had no real body; instead, he was mist itself. Sea of souls resembling different kinds of fish followed his steps. They tingled and trembled if he tried to touch any of them, simply disappearing around his hand if he went through them. Sometimes, he would have to travel so far into the Void to find a soul that minutes turned into days, and days into weeks. He hoped this new soul wasn't that far away.

And it wasn't. It was a few days away from where he usually resided. It was so tiny, a small sardine among millions of greedy and dull sharks, you'd be scared to touch it, afraid of shattering its brilliant, glassy glow and then turning it to ashes. But if something so small got here, it definitely wasn't weak and deserved no mockery.

The Outsider felt excitement in his being - to find a stranger in this void, completely alone. He couldn't dive into this soul's world simply by one look, couldn't find and see its life - it didn't even have a body of its own and for the first time in decades, there were so many questions rising in his mind that he surprised himself. This creature got him to think.

This creature got him interested.

He took the soul gently and absorbed it into himself to read its mind.

What he found out would forever change the life within the Empire of Isles.


	2. Lavender Illusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harvey meets the Outsider

A life of a game designer could sometimes be unforgiving.

When you finally get some kind of an idea on the paper and then on the computer (which usually took him much less to do, but today just wasn't his day) and _then_ the whole system decides that it’s had enough and slowly turns off in front of your face.

Alright, to be honest, not so slowly.

You see hundreds of glitches on the screen. Then a buggy sound smashes your eardrums through the headphones, finally the screen shifts into a black screen, a mesmerizing grey rectangle gathers into the center of the screen and leaves you in complete, saddening silence.

Your first thoughts aren't, “Do I smash the computer now or later?”

Usually, you follow that isolating silence and after a few seconds you start panicking or smashing the computer and everything around you in an attempt to calm that devil inside of you.

Harvey Smith was one of those people who didn't smash the computer. This scene was repeatedly replayed in his mind that he somehow stopped caring and instead, he does something completely normal but unimaginable:

He does the same exact thing over again the seconds he calms down. He goes over those hours and hours of the same exact thing over again. The game he’s working on gets him so motivated and worked up that he has this need of developing it, upgrading it. He doesn’t stop until _he’s_ satisfied. 

That’s what makes him a good game designer.

So when something like this happens, he has to rethink his life and give it all he can not to break something, especially all of this expensive equipment.

Well, it was inevitable to admit he could cry if he wanted to yet this scenario happened so many times that even Harvey lost count (his PC probably knew how many times it happened, let’s not ruin the inspirational speech). He couldn’t deny it, there was something in his computer that needed fixing, but he felt so tired.

‘No, I have to do this,’ would appear in his mind for shortest amounts of time before his body, again, insisted on him to go back, lay in his bed and sleep to the sound of solitude.

Harvey leaned back into his chair and, sighing with hands behind his neck and head swung back. He couldn’t even imagine what his team would say if they found out something like this happened. Actually, he was definitely overthinking this. It wasn’t his fault for these files being destroyed, but it was his fault for not at least saving his files. He needed to get that rubber duck Raphael, his co-director, suggested to him to buy. ‘Talk to it, it’ll be easier’- he said.

As he pushed his palms into his hair to ruffle it, he got back up and started searching for anything suspicious on his computer. He couldn’t sacrifice other files being eaten up like this. And after several minutes of searching, Harvey actually found something he didn’t notice before. It was a strange folder.

The name of the folder had just one square as if some foreign language was used. He scanned it just to be sure that nothing would happen if he opened it. It supposedly had no viruses, so he opened it.

It was empty; completely empty. Not a single file resided in it and yet, he knew that he didn’t create this folder. Perhaps some files were hidden.

And just then, his cell phone rang with such strength that he couldn’t control the flinch, which caused his chair to jump with him and hit a cabinet.

“Oh Jesus Christ, that scared me,” he murmured quietly, his palm on his heart, insubstantially protecting himself from a near heart attack. Harvey turned in his chair to grab the phone.

Sighing, he looked at the screen, brought it to his ear while clicking a button, “Hello?”

“Hey Harvey,” the bright voice of the lead designer, Ricardo Bare, rang through the phone speaker. This could be a very dangerous situation, but the good thing was that they weren’t _that_ close to the deadline of release so he could still somehow save his neck, “I’ve just meant to tell you that the team decided to bring their ideas, show the progress and such tomorrow at eleven am. Did you finish that map we talked about? The team is actually quite excited to see the progress!”

Or not.

“Well,” his voice was higher than usual. He hated lying, he wouldn’t usually lie, _especially_ to one of his coworkers and friends, but… He had to, “not yet, but I’m working on it and I’ve got to say that it’s… um… - coming together quite nicely! Sure, there are some minor twitches that need repairing and discussing but everything is… _almost_ … in the right place!”

There was a short silence. Harvey knew why there was a short silence; Ricardo felt the tremble in his voice. Or was he just imagining it? He wasn’t sure if this silence was particularly long, was it awkward? No, it wasn’t. It was that now-wait-just-a-minute silence.

“Harvey,” a deep breath in from Ricardo followed by a blatant and annoyed exhale, “don’t tell me that something happened; something lik-“

“Nothing happened! Honestly,” Harvey’s voice low and slow, to try decreasing the suspicion, “I… just realized that I need to clean the USB disc to put the files on!”

“Why’d you do that? We made it possible for you to transfer the files to the office _immediately_ and in fact, why don’t you send them to us right now? We could all discuss what’s not good on the map if you’re so concerned, right guys?” enthusiastic but quiet ‘yes’s could be heard on the other line.

Harvey kept quiet. He didn’t think or process what was going to happen. He didn’t want to think _anything._ Still, a tiny thought popped up in his head, reassuring him that nothing will happen if he just admits what happened.

He leaned forward with a hand in his hair and other one leaned against the table, “Look, something happened. Hey, it wasn’t my fault! How could I be sure if you’d- ok, please stop with those moans of _delight_ ,” sarcasm in his voice, “Anyway, I got some kind of a virus on my computer. I didn’t see it, the system didn’t see it and it probably got the computer to crash and literally murder all of my files I had for this map!”

“Ok, I understand, but god _damnit_ Harvey! We have _two_ more months to get this game shipped, not to _mention_ the beta testing!”

“I know, I know, I’m working on it right now!”

Ricardo started to say something, but it was lost when some unrecognizable voice said something. Ricardo replied to it with a quick ‘yeah’.

“Alright...” a short pause, ”Alright, listen. Get rid of that virus, rebuild the basic structure of the map and bring it to us by three pm tomorrow. We don’t have the time to wait for you to rebuild it completely.”

“I understand,” a rock was lifted from Harvey’s chest.

“And make _sure_ something like this doesn’t happen because, I’ll be frank, this isn’t the first time it happened,” you could almost taste the anger in Ricardo’s voice.

“Ricardo, it really won’t happen again. You know which measures I take for these things not to happen.”

“But actually make sure it _really_ doesn’t happen again!”

After a short argument with Ricardo making sure Harvey listened through all his comments, they exchange goodbyes.

And Harvey did just what he had to. He deleted the file he found, scanned his computer again just to be sure, turned the internet off and went through the planning all. over. again.

 

* * *

* * *

 

 

He was done.

Twelve AM? Was it really that late? He was much faster than he anticipated since he started around ten PM. The structure of the map was done and this time, he wrote his plans on plain papers. This way, it definitely wouldn’t be destroyed by something other than him. Harvey felt a bit proud for finishing it. Not only that, but he supposedly got rid of that virus and nothing happened while he was doing his job. The day in the end turned out quite well.

But before he could save his files, everything froze. The mouse irregularly started flashing green light around the room as defecting purple and green lines appeared and fixed in the middle of the screen.

It couldn’t be. But it was but this time, it didn’t turn off his computer.

The virus first turned off all applications and then deleted all icons on the desktop along with the task bar. Thousands of icons started appearing around the desktop, entitled with random numbers, words, names. They kept coming, going as far to cover other files since there was no space for new ones and Harvey had no control over his mouse or keyboard. When he tried to turn the monitor or computer off, it didn’t listen. This got him to panic, he had no idea what to do.

He immediately ran to plug out his computer, but nothing happened.

Except that files suddenly stopped coming. The mouse slowly went towards one unrecognized file. Its title was, “H. Smith”

Harvey felt himself start to tremble in fear. There were thousands of thoughts rushing through his head and all of them were trying to think of how he got this virus. Perhaps it gathered his name from his personal documents on the internet. But there were very few of those so maybe it was someone he knew.

Then, a sound coming from his monitor made a tiny clicking noise, opening the unrecognized file.

Harvey waited in anticipation and fear, staring at the screen as if it was something from the deepest ocean depths.

It was a picture.

A single picture which made his blood stop flowing and he’d never admit it, but he was ready to scream and cry right then and there - a picture which displayed his family together.

They were happy. He recognized them, he was in the picture too. He was smiling. He was happy.

The virus got similar pictures opened one after another, increasing in speed. The pictures got more and more gruesome, showing the life of his mother and father. It brought up all those horrible memories back. Those memories which he finally got pushed back, hidden deep into his mind so that when he tried to remember them, he couldn’t reckon if something was true or not. Soon, they became blood-colored, things which in reality didn’t happen but he felt them. It evoked feelings in him, he felt as a child, as a person living in a world of a lone sea filled with nothing but people laughing at him, eating him from the inside and then throwing him away to rot.

 Harvey shook from the pure anger he felt. He wanted nothing more but to make it stop, to break those memories and escape from his fear-

And then Harvey realized that he wasn’t angry. He was scared.

Fear and anxiety devoured his mind. He’s not sure when he started screaming, but when he did, he was already too deep in that horror to stop. The pressure was just so strong, he was so scared, his mind buzzed from the impact of this realization, but he didn’t understand why he was scared, he couldn’t control his mind when-

He disappeared.

His body became the mist; his mind softly vanished together with it. He felt so much fear that he gasped for air as if his chest would burst open- he resisted the peace that was brought to him from something unknown. But it was a force he couldn’t fight so even as Harvey screamed and yelled, _It_ pushed itself into his being with such energy that his own vigour was being replaced by it. It was hypnotizing, those soft beating hums taking him into another calmer world. After he settled with it, he released a few grievous and arduous breaths before finally taking in deep and loud breaths.

It was such a sad song that trembled around him, he analyzed - it welcomed him, called him to go back home. When he tried regaining his senses, the song would break his thoughts; bring him back to where he belonged.

It was this loving silence, complete isolation of all that finally got him to relax. It wrapped itself around his soul and brought him something new. Something he only dreamed of.

His body was being ripped apart.

Harvey opened his eyes in surprise and terror.

He was in a dark room.

There was no beginning or the end, no corners and lines, just a lonely rope in the middle of the room. The rope was stretched on the both sides, disappearing into the invisible part of the room. It had a few golden strings, shining as it graciously and softly turned around.

Harvey took a few deaf steps towards it to examine it more closely but nothing stood out; it was just a normal, plain rope with few strands of gold. He brought his right palm cautiously close to the rope, pausing to be sure if he should touch it.

He counted to three before he finally grabbed the rope with all his might. A few seconds passed and then the ground crumbled below him, causing Harvey to gasp in terror and desperately cling to the still-extended rope with both hands as his body got pulled down with such speed and force. His voice shook so much that even as he breathed, he had trouble swallowing the huge amount of saliva that formed in his mouth, but he stayed gripped to the rope.

Above him was nothing but that black void which now twinkled with thousands of stars, but below him was something much more enchanting.

Thousands of purple, ebony and gold strings started creating an expanse of expertly sewn cloth by coiling together with nothing but glaucous background below. Soon, those huge amounts of threads entwined together to create a hurricane that circled around him, smelling of lavender while causing a huge black storm to envelop him back into the darkness. The sound reminded him of hundreds of birds flying around him, disturbing his mind to stay calm.

But if Harvey looked better when the hurricane drew closer, those threads weren’t… threads. They were petals - thousand of petals slowly transforming into something much more human-like while spreading below him. Harvey’s hands now burnt, he’d fall soon if he didn’t find something to step on so he hopelessly looked around, tried to brush his hands against the rope to get rid of the sweat but it only made it worse.

Panic haunted his mind, his mind was on the edge of sanity. He’d surely fall, but he couldn’t die like this! The image of himself breaking every bone and losing his life replayed in his mind. But when he looked what was before him, his breath hitched because he couldn’t believe his eyes. The petals, shining like fish scales, formed a complete human, arms behind their back, straight and strong posture. Gradually, they turned and melted, leaving colorful smoke while at the same time changing their color and materials, forming the now… The… It was _him…_

Firm but elegant look in its licorice eyes; its arms were brought ahead to cross them, the sound and the smell of his dark gray leather jacket breaking the silence. 

“Hello, Harvey,” a calm voice made everything stop spinning, few petals still being absorbed in the creature’s skin on its face, “You surely recognize me. After all, you created me along with everything I thought was mine - was my creation and for that, I should feel gratitude. But I don’t.”

“Y-y…. You…” Harvey managed to mumble, still shaking from being so near death, gasping when he almost released the rope from the shock.

“Yes, Harvey. You know me extremely well: you used all of your senses to bring me to life, it was you who gave me this name and yet, in this world, you are as feeble as a petal,” he gestured by bringing his hand up, a golden petal going out from the middle of his palm, lazily rotating in place, “but all of that is just an illusion; just like me,” he swiftly clenched a fist, the petal disappearing as nothing but grey smoke while turning his head towards him, “and you.”

Harvey looked down and realized that there was ground below him since he could see his shadow. He slowly extended his leg to try the ground before setting his other foot down with a loud step echoing.

He was again in a black room, the “human” floating in midair above him.

Deep breaths to collect himself, he quietly breathed out, but his posture only revealed instability, tension and doubt. He realized that the creature actually emitted a relaxing smell of the sea with a hint of flower fragrance from the earlier grand entrance.

” The Outsider,” the game designer concluded quietly, locking his eyes on the creature’s.

The Outsider gave him a cold smile in return with those lonely, dim eyes, “Welcome home, Harvey…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So again, please tell me what you think, do I continue, what to fix, what you didn't like and I just might continue to write this if there are people who want this to be continued.
> 
> Cheers!


End file.
